Delaware Bills

This Act ensures that the spouses of those killed in the line of duty are able to receive benefits for the remainder of their lives regardless of future marital status. When a surviving spouse remarries, the surviving spouse's benefit is reduced to 90% of the original benefit for the first 10 years after the remarrying and must be reduced to 75% of the original benefit thereafter until the death of the surviving spouse. Spouses of fallen first responders should not be forced to make decisions to carry on with their lives based on financial considerations.

This Substitute Act incorporates House Bill No. 222, and also makes the following changes to House Bill No. 222: (1) Creates a new Chapter of Title 10, which permits a family member or a law enforcement officer to obtain a lethal violence protective order. (2) Permits a family member or law enforcement officer to obtain an emergency lethal violence protective order in Justice of the Peace Court if the Court finds probable cause to believe that a respondent poses an immediate and present danger of causing physical injury to self or others by owning, possessing, controlling, purchasing, having access to, or receiving a firearm. The order requires the relinquishment of firearms to law enforcement and may prohibit the individual from residing with others who possess firearms, and grant permission to law enforcement to search for and seize firearms. If an emergency order is issued, the Superior Court must hold a full hearing within 15 days. (3) Makes clear that the Justice of the Peace Court and the Superior Court may, as part of an lethal violence protective order, order an individual not to reside with a individual who owns, possesses, or controls firearms. However, the Courts may not impair or limit the right to keep and bear arms of an individual who is not subject to an order. (4) Permits a respondent to request termination of the order in Superior Court wherein the respondent has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent does not pose a danger of causing physical injury to self or others by controlling, owning, purchasing, possessing, having access to, or receiving a firearm. (5) Creates sanctions for a person who provides false information in the affidavit or verified pleading in order to obtain a lethal violence protective order. (6) Creates sanctions for a person who violates a lethal violence protective order by adding lethal violence protective order to Section 1271A of Title 11, making a violation of the order Criminal contempt. (7) Changes the effective date of this Act to 6 months after its enactment.

This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that modernizes the Delaware Constitution’s bail provision and clarifies the power of the General Assembly and the Courts to define certain felony offenses for which, or circumstances under which, pretrial release on bail may not be available. Upon enactment of the second leg of this constitutional amendment, Article I, § 12 of the Delaware Constitution proposed will do all of the following: (1) Retain the express declaration of a general right to have bail set in a criminal case. (2) Provide that the only crimes for which bail must be withheld are capital murder, where the evidentiary proof is positive and presumption of the accusation great, and other felony offenses determined by and under procedures prescribed by law where the evidentiary proof is clear and convincing. (3) Ensure that one condition precedent to bail being withheld in non-capital cases is a finding that no bail condition or combination of bail conditions other than detention will assure the safety of another person or the community, that the person will appear for future proceedings, or that the detention is necessary to prevent the person from obstructing justice. The proposed change to permit a person charged with a non-capital crime to be held without bail will not take effect until the General Assembly revises Chapter 21 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code to prescribe by law the circumstances and procedures under which detention without bail may occur. With this change, though, Delaware can move forward toward the type of modern bail system that has been increasingly adopted by our sister states, through amendment of their state constitutions, when needed, and the development of statutory procedures that provide, in extreme cases, pretrial detention without bail. Under current Delaware law, the only circumstance in which a person might be detained without bail is when the person is charged with capital murder. This Act would have no effect on bail procedures and standards in capital cases. The fact that bail can be withheld only in capital cases, however, is inconsistent with the evidence-based and informed decision-making that the General Assembly looked to adopt through the Justice Reinvestment Act and the findings and ongoing work of our Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission. At present, a Delaware state court judge cannot order pre-conviction detention in any non-capital case. Instead the judge can only attempt to set the bail so high that a defendant cannot make it, which can result in dangerous defendants with wealth being able to obtain release even if they pose a risk of harm to the public or a specific person, such as a witness or victim. This Act is one step toward completing a pretrial release-detention continuum that requires specific evidence-based release-detention decisions. Any legislation subsequently enacted or court procedures adopted under this Act requires a court’s individualized, fact-governed decision-making regarding detention in order to pass muster under the United States and Delaware State Constitutions. And, under this Act, any statute defining offenses for which, or circumstances under which, a person can be subjected to pretrial detention without bail must be enacted by an act of the General Assembly that is separate from an act that creates or amends the offense or circumstances and receives the concurrence of a two-thirds majority of each House of the General Assembly.

Since 1975, the Delaware Population Consortium has prepared a unified set of statewide population projections each year. These projections are used for a variety of purposes including capital planning, policy analysis, comprehensive planning, and transportation planning. All 3 counties are required by State law to utilize these projections to prepare their required comprehensive plans. However, the Delaware Population Consortium does not exist in State law. This Act formally creates the Delaware Population Consortium, identifies its membership and work products, and requires that all counties, municipalities, school districts, and State agencies use the Consortium’s projections for planning and policy purposes.

This Act makes a technical correction to § 7021 of Title 25 so that it is consistent with § 7043 of Title 25. Section 7021 is the original rent increase section. It requires a landlord to provide a minimum 60 days notice of a rent increase and was not revised when § 7043, which requires a minimum of 90 days notice of a rent increase, was enacted in 2013.

This Act is the second leg of a constitutional amendment that would alter the continuity of government provisions of the Delaware Constitution to enable the effective continuance of government following a variety of emergency situations. The first leg of this amendment, House Bill No. 380 of the 148th General Assembly, passed both Houses with the two-thirds vote required by, and was publicized in accordance with, the Delaware Constitution. Currently, Article II, § 5 of the Delaware Constitution requires the General Assembly to meet in Dover, unless an emergency caused by insurrection, conflagration, or epidemic diseases occurs. And, Article XVII, § 1 of the Delaware Constitution provides the General Assembly with the power to enact laws providing for continuity of government following emergency situations, but only if the emergency results from an enemy attack. Section 2 of this Act extends the General Assembly's authority under Article XVII, § 1 to disasters involving terrorism, disease, accident, and other natural or man-made disasters. This would authorize the General Assembly to extend the provisions of Chapter 77 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code (relating to the emergency location of government), Chapter 17 of Title 29 (relating to emergency interim legislative succession), Chapter 78 of Title 29 (relating to interim executive succession), and Chapter 18 of Title 10 (relating to emergency interim judicial succession) to emergencies involving terrorism, disease, accident, or other natural or manmade disasters, as well as those involving enemy attack. This change is consistent with the approach taken in at least four states, New York, Louisiana, Montana, and Utah, which have adopted an "all hazards" approach to continuity of government planning. In addition, Section 2 of this Act makes changes to Article XVII, § 1 adopting the interpretation of this provision by the Delaware Supreme Court in Opinion of the Justices, 190 A.2d 521 (Del. 1963), so that it is clear that the General Assembly may provide for succession for those public offices that are not immediately filled by operation of the Constitution. Section 1 of this Act would harmonize Article XVII, § 1 and Article § 5 so that the emergency situations exempting the General Assembly from the requirement that it meet in Dover are similar to the emergency situation in which the General Assembly may enact laws or otherwise act to provide for the continuity of government. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to confirm existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Specifically, lines 17 through 19 of this Act remove unnecessary legalese in and make grammatical changes to the final sentence of Article XVII, §1.

This constitutional amendment removes outdated constitutional language related to voter qualifications. The voting age has been 18 since the 1970's under federal law which superseded state law. Additionally this constitutional amendment clarifies the General Assembly's authority to enact general laws relating to voting by absentee ballot.

This bill was previously recommended by the Joint Sunset Committee in the 147th General Assembly. The bill adds appointed members of the Cash Management Policy Board to the definition of “public officers.” This designation would subject the appointed members of the Board to annual financial disclosure requirements.

This Act removes a derogatory term for Italian-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-American immigrants from the Delaware Code.

Both the Delaware Strategic Fund (Title 29, Chapter 87A, Subchapter II) and the Delaware Technical Innovation Fund (Title 29, Chapter 87A, Subchapter III) provide funding for Delaware businesses, including new businesses in growing technology-related fields. The Delaware Strategic Fund is intended to assist in the development of startup strategies such as seed capital and incubator programs. The Delaware Technical Innovation Fund is intended to promote coordination with Delaware’s institutions of higher education and the private sector to commercialize innovative products and processes developed by small businesses. This act encourages Delaware’s institutions of higher education to assist foreign-born, student entrepreneurs, who are engaged in the development of new businesses and technologies in Delaware, to provide them with assistance in maintaining proper legal status within the United States. Presently, thirteen universities in six states offer Global Entrepreneur in Residence Programs which have been successful in assisting foreign-born, student entrepreneurs in creating new businesses, new jobs, and attracting additional capital investment for their development and expansion. This act will add a provision comparable to those found in Global Entrepreneur Residence Programs within the existing frameworks provided by the Delaware Strategic Fund and the Delaware Technical Innovation Fund. This will encourage the creation and development of new businesses and new technologies in Delaware, without creating a new program with new funding needs.

This Senate Resolution congratulates the State of Israel on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its founding.

This Act changes the program for distributing payments to county seats with tax-exempt properties owned by the State. Section 8318 of Title 29 directs compensatory payments for exempt properties owned by the State to the county seats, Wilmington, Dover, and Georgetown. This Act authorizes these compensatory payments to any municipality with a population over 25,000 and more than 20% tax exempt property owned by the State. This Act also raises the annual cap on the amount distributed under this section by $500,000 and adjusts the formula under which these distributions are made. This Act improves the formulas to enable the elimination of specific dollar earmarks and to treat all higher education institutions in the State equally. The Act increases the compensatory payments under this section to each of the 3 county seats, and adds Newark to the program at a much lower payment than the payment provided to the county seats. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.